[Woodcarver] red Ceder

[George Farrell]

On Feb 13, 2004, at 8:14 PM, lbpatch wrote:
> I am sorry if we may have covered this topic before, but what is red 
> cedar
> like to carve on?
>
> Brad A.K.A "rabbit carver"

Hi Brad
   A lot of red cedar came down in Hurricane Isobel in Sept last fall.  
I managed to collect
quite a bit of it from along the road side -- some of it blocks about 2 
feet long that had
been split off of a block from the trunk of a tree that had to have 
been 3 feet or more in diameter.
I can tell you that the stuff splits very easily.  I split those blocks 
into smaller blocks
about 5X5 and 2 feet long so I could pass them thru my band saw to 
square them up for
drying.  The stuff saws very easily (except at knots).  I'm making a 
copy of a renaissance
flute and there is a plug that goes behind the embouchure -- the best 
plug is one that does
not absorb moisture.  Cork and rubber are the normal materials -- 
neither of which is
available here.  Cedar is the preferred wood for the plug that goes 
into the fipple of a
recorder (basically a whistle with tone holes for playing melodies).  I 
carved a plug from a
scrap sawn off from squaring the blocks because cedar needs little or 
no curing to be stable.
It carves easily with a sharp knife -- being constantly aware that it 
splits readily.

Hope this helps.
Happiness is a tall boat and breeze to fill her sails
Have a good day
George Farrell
Edenton, NC